[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              REFLECTION ON THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I too was gratified by much of what I heard 
last night. But as I looked around the Chamber, I saw several of my 
colleagues look much younger. It was the same speech that we heard 
throughout the 1992 campaign: Ending welfare as we know it; balancing 
the budget; reducing the size and scope of Government.
  The fascinating thing for us to do was to juxtapose the speech in 
1992 that was given by the President through his campaign and then look 
at the State of the Union Messages that we have gotten before. In 1993, 
we heard about the importance of increasing taxes on the middle class. 
We got that in 1993, the largest tax increase ever.
  Then I will never forget seeing the President deliver his State of 
the Union Message in this Chamber, and he held up a card. That card was 
going to be designed to ensure that every American was part of a 
national health care system, a program that would usurp one-seventh of 
our entire economy into a package like that.
  The speech last night got back to the basis of that 1992 campaign. I 
hope very much that during this 2d session of the 104th Congress, we 
will be able to govern just the way he talked.

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